Spicy, Tangy Buffalo Cauliflower

Spicy, tangy sauce, blue cheese crumbles, crunch celery all included in a classic recipe gone vegetarian: Buffalo Cauliflower. Guess what? You won’t miss the meat!

I have always love Buffalo Chicken Wings. To me they are the most perfect combination of spicy, tangy, succulent food there is. I have loved blue cheese dressing since I was a child so the fact that is a standard dipping sauce proves it is a divine recipe. Add some fresh-flavored celery for a nice crunch and perfection has been reached. I love them so much I developed a Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Lasagna recipe to enjoy it in a different from (which has been wildly popular I will add).

This past weekend was full of football play-off games in my household. Socked in with dreary weather and kids loaded up with homework, the countdown to the big game was evident. Though I’ll watch a football game, I’m distractable and unless something fantastically interesting is going on, I generally mentally drift, this time thinking about food for the Super Bowl.

I have been making a concerted effort to think about adding vegetables into my family’s eating regimen and not as an afterthought trailing the decision of what protein to serve for dinner. Periodically I’m sent cookbook copies for review from publishing houses. I have a stack next to my desk which I’ll thumb through to share with you or to test in my own kitchen. “Meat on the Side” (Delicious Vegetable Focused Recipes for Every Day) by Nikki Dinki caught my attention, feeling like the manual for my New Year’s resolution on the vegetable front.

Buffalo Cauliflower – “Meat On The Side” by Nikki Dinki. Photo credit: St. Martin’s Press.

Meat on the Side (St. Martin’s Press) features over 100 recipes from an author who did not eat her first vegetable until she was 20 due to being a picky eater. To me the book speaks to people LIKE me; those of us who want to incorporate vegetables into our meal planning in a more interesting way. I don’t want to give up meat but I want to get out of a vegetable rut AND to feature vegetables as the main dish of a meal (like with Butternut Squash Noodles in Sage Brown Butter or Paneer Tikka Masala) and not miss meat from time to time.

I spent some time flipping through the pages, reading the ‘family friendly’ notations on the recipes, admiring the breadth of recipe categories and then landed on the mother lode: Buffalo Cauliflower. Cue the angels singing on high. I knew this was a recipe I had to make.

As with my first paragraph wings description, this Buffalo Cauliflower recipe has everything we love; spicy, tangy sauce, blue cheese, crunchy celery and beautifully roasted cauliflower which as a fantastic, substantial bite.

I loved every bite of this recipe AND having a perfect option to serve for gatherings or football food that is a meat-free option. And a recipe where the meat is not missed!

This Buffalo Cauliflower recipe is chock full of favorite hot wing flavors. Spicy, tangy sauce, blue cheese crumbles and slices of cool, crunch celery. A great game day vegetarian appetizer!

5 from 1 vote

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Buffalo Cauliflower

"People, kids included, will devour anything that is smothered in Buffalo sauce and cheese. To tone down the spice for tender palates, make the sauce with ¼ cup hot sauce and 1/3 cup butter. You can also swap the blue cheese for feta, goat cheese, queso fresco, or chunks of cheddar." -Meat on the Side

Course Appetizer

Cuisine American

Keyword buffalo cauliflower, buffalo cauliflower appetizer

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 2 large or 4 smaller servings

Calories 471 kcal

Author Toni Dash

Ingredients

• 1 medium head Cauliflower (about 2 pounds)
• 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1½ teaspoons Kosher Salt
• 4 tablespoons (½ stick) Unsalted Butter, cut into pieces
• 1/3 cup Frank’s RedHot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Distilled White Vinegar
• ¼ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup very thinly sliced Celery
• ½ cup crumbled Blue Cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
2. Break the cauliflower into large florets and put in a large bowl. Add the oil and 1 teaspoon of the salt and toss to coat. Spread the cauliflower out evenly on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until tender and browned, 15 to 20 minutes. Return the cauliflower to the large bowl.
3. Meanwhile, put the butter, hot sauce, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and the remaining ½ teaspoon salt in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter has melted and the Buffalo sauce has come together, 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Pour the sauce over the cauliflower and toss until well coated. Serve, dividing the celery and blue cheese equally over the portions.

Recipe Notes

From Meat on the Side Copyright ©2016 by Nikki Dinki, reprinted with permission of St. Martin’s Press.

Nutrition Facts

Buffalo Cauliflower

Amount Per Serving

Calories 471 Calories from Fat 414

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 46g 71%

Saturated Fat 22g 110%

Cholesterol 85mg 28%

Sodium 3339mg 139%

Potassium 435mg 12%

Total Carbohydrates 5g 2%

Dietary Fiber 1g 4%

Sugars 2g

Protein 9g 18%

Vitamin A 25%

Vitamin C 69.4%

Calcium 21.7%

Iron 3.5%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.